An electronic chassis which houses electronic components for high speed telecommunication and networking applications typically includes a plurality of vertically oriented circuit board assemblies, each of which are typically comprised of a circuit board attached to a U-shaped bracket member. These circuit boards are typically referred to as application cards. The application cards are inserted into the chassis and are guided into the chassis along a pair of card guide assemblies mounted between the side walls of the chassis. One of the card guide assemblies is typically located adjacent the top of the chassis and the other is typically located adjacent the bottom of the chassis.
A backplane circuit board having various surface mounted connectors is typically fastened to the pair of card guide assemblies and forms the back wall of the chassis. When fully inserted into the chassis, connectors located along the back edge of the application cards are connected to the connectors located on the backplane circuit board.
Conventional backplane circuit boards are typically comprised of a single circuit board. The top section of conventional backplane circuit boards typically includes a plurality of surface mounted connectors that provide electrical connections between the various application cards within the chassis. These connectors are not double-sided and therefore do not extend through the circuit board to the backside of the circuit board. The bottom section of conventional backplane circuit boards typically includes a plurality of telephone connectors have double sided telephone connectors that have an input on one side of the circuit board and output on the other. Input cables from outside of the chassis are connected to the telephone connectors on the backside of the circuit board.
There are several disadvantages to this arrangement. Conventional backplanes have to be moved away from the back portion of the chassis, toward the front of the chassis, in order to accommodate the double-sided telephone connectors that project outward on both sides of the backplane circuit board. This takes up a considerable amount of space within the chassis, which has strict dimensional requirements. For example, conventional electronic chassis must typically maintain a depth of 11.811 inches.
The placement of conventional backplanes also has a negative impact of the application cards within the chassis. For example, the placement of a conventional backplane typically limits the size of the application cards located within the chassis. This in turn limits the amount of space available on the applications cards for various electronic functions.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a backplane circuit board that overcomes the disadvantages described above.